It's not video -- but it's something

Anything and everything that is UMass Minutemen Basketball.
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DirSport
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It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Sun May 17, 2020 12:43 pm

Many of you know that it was my good fortune to broadcast four seasons' worth of UMass basketball on WHMP in Northampton between 1991-92 and 1994-95. Those times were otherworldly good; in 135 games over that span, the Minutemen finished 111-24. I still have all of those 135 games on tape -- not every minute of every game, but close enough -- and I guess I have the advent of Corona World to thank, for motivating me into a project that I should have undertaken long ago.

I'm currently digitizing selected games from these four seasons, taking the original cassette tapes (most of which remain in surprisingly good condition) and converting them first into WAV and ultimately into MP3 files. I was aware of Audacity before this but never had an opportunity to use it, and that app, along with Soundcloud, has so far given me just the kind of results I'm looking for. At this moment, I have put five particularly memorable games from the 91-92 season up on a Soundcloud page, linked here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-125347718/s ... broadcasts

Of note, to streamline things, I have edited out all the pregame, halftime, and postgame shows, as well as all the commercial breaks that we were required by the university to record.

I will continue to add more games from the next three seasons as I am able. I suppose I could even take requests, if there's a certain game from that period that you'd like to hear. You'll definitely re-acquaint yourselves with some names and voices, and plenty of exciting moments, that you've not heard or thought about for a while. For anything after 1995, however, well, you'd have to petition Messrs. Vandermeer, Behler, Maurer or Burnham for that audio.

I think you'll enjoy it. Give it a listen and let me know what you think, either here, or feel free to hit me up at [email protected] . I'm not at all a Twitter guy, but am very active on Facebook.

George Miller -- Owner of the "DirSport" handle since opening my first AOL account in 1993
Last edited by DirSport on Mon May 18, 2020 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

Juice Stand
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by Juice Stand » Sun May 17, 2020 3:06 pm

Fantastic! Thanks George for putting this together. These will be such a treat on long drives, and yes, Audacity is good stuff as well. Free, intuitive, and can easily handle a project like this. Well done.

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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by capezona » Sun May 17, 2020 5:15 pm

Excellent! I will have something to do for the next few months. Thanks.

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Mon May 18, 2020 12:07 am

UMass-North Carolina, 1993 Preseason NIT, is now added. Fair warning, it's a tough listen due to technical difficulties that night at MSG.

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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by Roadtrip » Mon May 18, 2020 4:45 am

For some of us, listening to you was how we followed the team. Thanks for doing this.

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Tue May 19, 2020 11:53 pm

Goings and comings -- Both the last game played at the Cage, against SW Louisiana, and the first-ever game at Mullins, an OT win over West Virginia five days later, are now up.

Who else can remember that UMass played a road game at St. Bonaventure less than 40 hours after the last "Rage in the Cage"? That was Super Bowl Sunday 1993 and we had Bills-Cowboys on the radio while driving from Olean back to Buffalo. Once we got to the Airport Marriott, we watched a few dozen Bills fans walking around the hotel lobby like zombies while their team turned the ball over nine times and lost to Dallas 52-17.
Last edited by DirSport on Wed May 20, 2020 10:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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m626t
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by m626t » Wed May 20, 2020 12:45 pm

I think I posted previously elsewhere that my wife tossed my Final Rage T shirt a few years age...Simply because you could see through it. Sill gets me upset to think about that.
All due respect, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, I'm gonna pass.

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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by KahunaK » Wed May 20, 2020 4:12 pm

m626t wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 12:45 pm I think I posted previously elsewhere that my wife tossed my Final Rage T shirt a few years age...Simply because you could see through it. Sill gets me upset to think about that.
Wives will do stuff like that. Has happened to me!

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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by harbo » Wed May 20, 2020 4:22 pm

All of my shirts were fine. Strangely, they all started shrinking about 15 years ago.

capezona
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by capezona » Wed May 20, 2020 7:16 pm

:D :D :D :D

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Thu May 21, 2020 2:58 pm

Last-second magic -- Tony Barbee at the buzzer to beat Temple for the second time ever (1-21-1993), then Mike Williams with 1.2 ticks left for the win at Oklahoma (11-28-1993). Think about that North Carolina-Kansas-Oklahoma stretch in less than five days.

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Mon May 25, 2020 12:44 pm

Up to the moment, 16 tracks in all are up. The latest are all three games vs. Temple in 93-94, including a pair of one-pointers decided late by Mike Williams, and the A-10 tournament final that featured an early 24-3 lead.

One goal of the project is to put up all A-10 tournament and NCAA tournament games from this four-season period. Most posted games will have the result you want to remember, but not all. Gotta take the rough with the smooth, y'know.

Just because I have 135 games' worth of audio doesn't mean I can easily find them all. Still efforting on some of these. I freely admit that the germ of the whole enterprise comes from going through my parents' house after my mother's recent passing.

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Fri May 29, 2020 9:54 pm

I've been anxious to find and post this particular audio, and Old Cage has come through in grandest style to save my bacon. Much respect and thanks to you, sir.
https://soundcloud.com/user-125347718/u ... a-01271995

Here are the last five-plus minutes of regulation and the overtime period at West Virginia, January 27, 1995. Despite your addled correspondent's insistence in calling it a 17-point deficit -- 74-57 was fixed in my brain -- it was, as we know, a comeback from 18 points down with 4:48 left, as the score was very briefly 80-62 just after the start of this clip.

A few names jump out that I had forgotten all about, due to WVU's soon-after transition to the Big East: like Seldon Jefferson, Zain Shaw, Cyrus Jones, Brent Solheim, Leon Agnew, and especially Damien Owens. Why? Because the game-tying basket at the end of regulation, credited to Dana Dingle, didn't happen nearly the way I fudged it in my description. Dingle didn't grab anything resembling an offensive rebound -- it was Owens who tipped or batted Mike Williams' missed free throw into his own basket, tying the game at 86-86 and setting us up for OT.

I've even added in the postgame show with Calipari getting into it with a couple of hecklers up behind us, while a squad of WV state troopers stood blankly nearby.

That road trip began three nights earlier with a 50-point win at Duquesne, the largest margin of victory since the famous 108-38 walk over Maine in 1974.

The 94-95 season has proven hard to track down; certainly I will want to get the Arkansas game up at minimum, if I can ever locate it.
Last edited by DirSport on Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

capezona
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by capezona » Sat May 30, 2020 11:38 am

Great game to listen to. Thanks for posting it. It was exciting even though I knew the final outcome. NEVER GIVE UP! Loved Cal's back and forth with some fans in the post game.

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DirSport
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Re: It's not video -- but it's something

Post by DirSport » Thu Jun 04, 2020 8:33 pm

Newest additions to the page from 91-92, bringing the total to 23 games:

* Great Alaska Shootout championship vs. New Orleans, 12-2-1991
* A-10 tournament quarterfinal vs. Rutgers, 3-8-1992
* A-10 tournament semifinal vs. Rhode Island, 3-9-1992
* NCAA tournament first round vs. Fordham in Worcester, 3-20-1992

Some encouraging news on the ongoing "treasure hunt." More to follow.

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